Lisa Messenger, the rule breaking and thought provoking founder and editor of Collective Hub, is on a mission to connect a community of likeminded souls who want to change the world.

Insatiably curious, naturally collaborative, yet understandably busy! Lisa spoke to us about the meaningful connections in her own life, and how she curates them – in her own way.

I have no problem in leaving a meeting five minutes in if it doesn’t feel right energetically. Life is too short for small conversations and meaningless connections.

— Lisa Messenger

Despite my outwardly very big life, more than anything I love one-on-one connections where I get to be really present with another human being. I think it’s really important to be aware of what drives you and for me it’s really important from a business and bigger purpose perspective to be able to connect en masse with our community. This happens through my speaking, books, print magazine and a number of other channels, both o ine and online. I love the scale this provides me to impact, and hopefully empower a vast number of people but it is the one-on-ones that really feed my soul. When I really get to “meet” people as equals and get an in-depth understanding of who they are and what drives them. I’m not into u y conversations. I like deep, robust, meaningful conversations that can change the world (don’t worry I’m also good at being completely ridiculous, never take myself too seriously and I spend most of my time laughing). I also love grounding myself and connecting with nature every single day. I purposefully live close to the beach for this reason and I purposefully have a big outdoor area at the o ce lled with plants and animals. This keeps me alive.

What connection roadblocks you have encountered...?

Nothing really. What I have learnt is the bottom line behaviors that are acceptable to me, what my boundaries are, and the power of saying no. For this reason, I only take a meeting or connect with someone if I believe it is going to have some greater purpose or has the potential to be the start of something bigger. I have no problem in leaving a meeting ve minutes in if it doesn’t feel right energetically. Life is too short for small conversations and meaningless connections.

How do you create connections that break barriers...?

I am well known for having a number of meetings doing the Bondi to Bronte walk. I much prefer to do an “active” meeting than sit statically. I rarely have an entirely productive or truly connected meeting if I am sitting in a sti ing boardroom with no fresh air and uorescent lights. It just doesn’t serve me – and again, I have no problem speaking up and orchestrating an immediate change in the environment for a greater outcome. Be unafraid to change the expected.

How do you connect with someone new...?

It all depends a little on the circumstance but I try to ask non-conformist questions that will propel bigger answers. In some personal development I did early on I was taught for example to never answer the question “how are you?” with the word “good” for the reason it tells nothing. I try to ask bigger more profound questions and I’m also not afraid to let people know in the most polite and productive way, that the conversation is too surface or shallow... I am at choice to leave it, orchestrate a bigger conversation or stay in something boring and meaningless. I will never choose the latter.

When hiring people, I seldom look at or have much interest in their CV, instead I am interested in specific things in their life that have impacted them – did they get divorced and what did they learn? Did they travel the world and what did they learn? Etc. Etc. I think we are responsiblefor eliciting exciting responses and lifting people higher by inviting bigger conversations with more stimulating questions.

What advice do you have for others looking to connect on a deeper level...?

Continuing to learn, evolve and stay open. I do this by consuming from many channels – direct conversations, podcasts, magazines, online etc. It’s about immersing myself in all sorts of situations with all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds, geographic locations and industries. If you are open, there are extraordinary opportunities to connect everywhere.

Keen for more? We would absolutely love to invite you to attend the Wellineux x Collective Hub series of wellness events we have curated in Sydney at Collective Hub's HQ! With a range of wellness events running throughout 2017, view the full schedule here.

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